Many tech companies have global supply chains. To evaluate them, look at tariff rates, pricing power and significant revenue from imported goods.

Tech stocks have continued to bleed red since President Donald Trump's April 2 announcement on tariffs. But some companies are in more trouble than others.

Specifically, companies with significant revenue from hardware whose supply chains stretch across the globe will need to scramble to figure things out.

One caveat is that Wednesday's tariff announcement may lead to negotiations with some countries and some backtracking on rates. In the worst-case scenario, meanwhile, the taxes on imports stick and the United States gets hit with retaliatory tariffs.

For now, Vietnam is facing tariffs of 46%, China of 54% (including the 20% previously in place), India of 26%, and Malaysia of 24%. All of those countries are important for suppliers of parts, particularly for smartphones, according to Phelix Lee, a Morningstar equity analyst.

"This is the biggest change to the economic outlook since the first day of COVID," said Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson.

As investors try to understand how tariffs will affect valuations, their decisions may come down to their risk tolerance: If the stock-market volatility is too much for them to stomach or they don't have time to ride out the uncertainty, they may not want to hold on to certain tech stocks.

And for those who plan to white-knuckle their way through, keeping an eye on stocks with exposure to imported hardware will be important.

PCs are expected to face the largest price increases, followed by servers and then networking equipment, according to an April 3 note from J.P. Morgan.

The Trump administration said that it is excluding chips from its latest tariffs because it is working on specific regulation and tariffs for that industry. In addition, many semiconductors come into the U.S. embedded in products like PCs and servers.

Tech companies had already been bracing for tariffs by adjusting their supply chains and fine-tuning their pricing, the J.P. Morgan analysts said in their report. But with the latest tariffs higher than expected, the companies will have to move faster to bring more of their manufacturing processes to the U.S., the analysts added.

That shift will be expensive, however, so management teams will need to gauge whether Trump's tariffs are a negotiating tactic or are set in stone.

"There has been a lot of knee-jerk selling. You can see that today," Luria said. "At the same time, there's also a little bit of paralysis because if I love a stock and a company - let's say Apple - then I think long-term, everybody is going to keep buying iPhones and we'll use more services. I still want to hang on to that stock. I don't think this is forever."

Crunching the numbers

Nailing down the exact impact for each company is difficult, because they will face different tariffs depending on which countries are part of their supply chain, and that data isn't always available to Wall Street.

J.P. Morgan's April 3 note ran early estimates that blended an average tariff rate of 30% for companies with revenue from hardware. The analysts estimate that would lead to a 10% hit to gross profits across the board if prices aren't raised to offset losses.

Among the companies the investment bank made estimates for is Apple Inc. $(AAPL)$, which earns about 80% of its revenue from hardware. Based on the portion of that hardware that would be hit with tariffs, the investment bank estimates that Apple would need to raise prices by 6% globally to absorb the blow.

In the big picture, it's not good for Apple, said Luria, but he noted that the company has three leverage points. First, it can raise prices, because Apple's brand loyalty and rich ecosystem means its customers aren't as price sensitive as some competitors'. However, price hikes may still hurt demand. Second, Apple can absorb some of the costs, accepting a lower profit margin, especially if management believes the tariffs are temporary. Third, there are a number of countries in Apple's supply chain, so the company can shift some of its manufacturing to locations with lower tariffs.

PC and server maker Dell Technologies Inc. $(DELL)$ is another name on the danger list, with 75% of its revenue coming from hardware. Based on the portion of that hardware that would be hit with tariffs, Dell would need to raise its global pricing by 11% to make up for the losses, the analysts said.

Companies that were relying on big spending from data centers are also in the danger zone. Luria expects spending by big tech companies on data-center build-out to fall by the same amount that tariff costs rise in order to keep capital-expenditure budgets intact.

"Microsoft $(MSFT)$, Meta $(META)$, Google $(GOOGL)$, Amazon $(AMZN)$ have been making these enormous investments in capex to build out their [artificial-intelligence] capacity well ahead of demand and part of the reason they were able to do that is that their base business was so good," Luria said. "And a good use of their cash flow was investing in long-term success. In a weaker economy where demand for their goods and services is diminished, they are far less likely to want to invest as much in building out capacity."

In that regard, investors should think about networking-hardware provider Cisco Systems Inc. $(CSCO)$, which gets 34% of its revenue from hardware. J.P. Morgan estimates the company would need to raise global prices by 6%, based on the portion of its hardware that would be hit with tariffs.

IT hardware provider Super Micro Computer Inc. $(SMCI)$ also has exposure, with 100% of its revenue coming from hardware, but based on the portion of its hardware that would be hit with tariffs, the company would only need to raise its global prices by 4%, according to J.P. Morgan.

Server and storage provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. $(HPE)$ earns 62% of its revenue from hardware, and based on the portion that would be hit with tariffs, the company would need to raise global prices by 6%, according to J.P. Morgan.

Semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm Inc. $(QCOM)$ is in the safe zone with only 3% of its hardware revenue being impacted by tariffs. J.P. Morgan estimates that company would not need to raise prices.